The Plastics Challenge Vanessa Greenlee, Elina Batt, Stephanie Chow, Younghyun Kim, Ryun Shim

SHOW NOTES:Joanna Sadler wants us to think about plastics differently. Can we shift our mindsets to regard plastics not as a waste product and a problem, but as a resource and an opportunity?Joanna and her colleagues at the University of Edinburgh have used E. coli to transform a molecule derived from PET plastic into the highly valuable industrial chemical vanillin. Vanillin is a high-value molecule used across the agrichemical and pharmaceutical industries—not to mention its culinary u...

When it comes to addressing plastic pollution, some people say, "Every choice matters". Other people say, "Your one metal straw isn't going to save the planet." How should we regard our daily little choices? Christian Shaw, a waterman and adventure who co-founded the organization Plastic Tides to create a global community of motivated changemakers, reflects on recycling, plant-based plastics, and his recent expedition in the Mississippi River Delta. He's interviewed by Erin Fox, a...

In Episode 3, we’re talking about a core recommendation from the New Plastics Economy Report that All plastic packaging be reused, recycled, or composted in practice. Chatting about new plastic packaging solutions are Geoffrey Coates and Thomas Shelley. Geoff is the scientific co-founder of Novomer, a sustainable materials company that features high-performance polymers and other chemicals from renewable feedstocks. He is also scientific co-founder of Intermix Performa...

What’s the role of state agencies in waste mitigation and in addressing our plastics pollution woes? Kayla Montanye and Terry Laibach and of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation dish on New York State’s Bag Waste Reduction Law and the 2022 Expanded Polystyrene Foam Container and Loose Fill Packaging ban.They're interviewed by Joey Gates, Earth Day Ithaca coordinator for Sustainable Tompkins, and founder of Dish Truck, a non-profit, pollution prevention effort to bring sustain...

Let’s start with the basics. How did our modern problems with plastics pollution get started?Susan Freinkel, a San Francisco based writer and the author of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story and American Chestnut: The Life, Death and rebirth of a Perfect Tree, shares her research into the history of our cultural love affair with plastics. She's interviewed by Matthew Eaglehouse, a student at Cornell University in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. He’s a member of ...

How can we stop polluting our environment with so much single-use plastic... everything? Join students and residents of Tompkins County, New York in an extended community conversation about reducing plastics pollution in our county, our state, and beyond.